South Grafton residents concerned about kangaroo attacks

The boy was playing in his backyard in South Grafton when a kangaroo of similar size attacked him.

Tracy, who was caring for the boy at the time, was upstairs when she heard him screaming hysterically.

"He came inside, he was absolutely covered in blood...I initially thought he'd fallen off his swing face first, but when I picked him up and said 'what happened darling?' he said a kangaroo attacked me...it wasn't even two minutes," she said.

The boy suffered bruising and scratches to his face and required surgery on a deep laceration to the back of his shoulder.

The family's yard is accessible to kangaroos because it is surrounded by bushland and has a golf course nearby.

But Tracy said she had not seen any kangaroos earlier in the day.

"I always sit out the back with him because of the kangaroos and just to watch him and it just happened so fast.

"My husband was actually attacked years ago but he's six-foot-four and able to defend against the kangaroo....he punched it quite a few times to get rid of it.

"When we do come out to the backyard, we've got a rotisserie keg that we bang to get them away from close to the house."

Tracy said while she had heard of other attacks, she never thought an attack like this would happen.

"We've been here 15 years...I actually saw a lady get attacked on the golf course many years ago..her screaming was horrific and she was able to get it off with a golf stick."

The young boy appears to be recovering well after returning from hospital.

"I've been so proud of him, he's so brave. He had to actually go into surgery for it to be stitched up.

"He's very wary, he'll only come out the back if I'm here or we're together now, whereas before he would just come out and play around the garden area or on his swing."

Neighbour Peter Thomson has been living in the area for 40 years and said over that time the population has grown from around 40 kangaroos to over 200.

"Most of the time they're just lying around but it's not unusual to come through my front gate and see 50 or 60 before you get to the house."

Mr Thomson said he has never worried about the kangaroos in the past, but the increased numbers are of concern.

"A little boy down the street towards the school was walking down the street between the neighbours and he was attacked by a kangaroo in the streets.

"A neighbour has been knocked down to the ground after being attacked and a walker in the street had to jump the fence and come to his aid," he said.

"Myself, I was walking in the paddock, picking out thistles about a fortnight ago and as I turned around a roo hit me, I had a couple of swipes at him with the hoe but it didn't do well enough."

"The big buck has been causing problems for over two years now...people aren't game to go out."

Lawrence Orel from the National Parks and Wildlife Service says the service and the local council have inspected the property and the potential circumstances leading to the attack.

He said it is hard to be sure about why the attacks are occurring.

"It appears that with our preference for that semi-rural lifestyle, we're living in areas that kangaroos like to live as well.

"The thing about roos is that they're a mob animal and part of their existence is a social structure...part of the way they work out who's top dog, particularly the younger males, starting out very early, is by sparring (play fighting).

"It may be that by becoming more familiar with humans around them that they lose their natural fear of us and see us as potential competition."

"The key thing that people need to do is just ensure that they have appropriate exclusion fencing that will prevent the kangaroos from getting in...and you shouldn't encourage them in any way," Mr Orel said.

He said the area around South Grafton is an ideal habitat for the kangaroo.

"They love a large open grassy area and large shady park trees which is exactly what most of these backyards in these areas look like."

But Peter Thomson said fences won't stop the kangaroos.

"People need a six-foot fence."

Australian Reptile Park education officer Michael Tate said while a kangaroo attack on a human is statistically uncommon, young male kangaroos, when sexually mature, will display fighting behaviour as they try to assert dominance with one another.

"If you were a youngish child and were standing up with your arms out, you would in a funny sort of way would resemble the stance that a kangaroo would take in combat with another roo.

"Even if you're afraid and you have your arms up, your may appear to the young roo to be a little confrontational."

Mr Tate advises people who feel threatened by a kangaroo to mimic the body language of a subservient roo; not to stand up to them but back away slowly, head down.

"If you are feeling concerned and they're there then... take the long way around and enjoy them from a distance.

"I don't want to say they are a ferocious animal but they are built for fighting one another and they do have long claws and big powerful back legs.

"The method of confrontation with each other is to rock back and forth on their tail and have a bit of a go with one or both of the back legs in a kicking action."

"They tend to contract the claws down and a kick so you can get quite a bad laceration and of course you can receive a broken bone pretty easily from a well placed kick from roo," Mr Tate said.

He also advises to make a lot of noise if you witness someone being confronted by a kangaroo.

"In that situation you would run to assist and as much noise and up and down as you can....roos are fundamentally shy creatures and they're traditionally prey items so they're pretty good at calling it a day and nicking off to save themselves.

"If a couple of people were running with a lot of noise towards that situation, I'm very confident the roo would turn around and head for the hills quite literally."